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Elites Trash the Tea Party

RUSH: Late yesterday afternoon, CNN's Newsroom, the anchorette Brooke Baldwin is speaking with the political correspondent Shannon Travis about Ted Cruz and his primary victory over David Dewhurst. And Baldwin said, "What's going on in Texas?" Good Lordy out there. "Shannon, you've been following the Tea Party since the beginning. Are they back? Did they ever leave? Have they been working out in local campaigns like this in Texas?"

TRAVIS: There's an old song lyric that says "Don't call it a comeback, they've been here for years." This is not really a comeback. The Tea Party has been quietly working behind the scenes. You've seen less of the rallies, less of the people going out and pounding the pavement, and really more of them quietly negotiating, adopting, if you will, some of the tactics of the political parties, the political establishment that they abhor in a lot of ways, adopting some of those tried-and-true strategies of building up their staffing offices, building up their volunteers, knocking on doors, and that's what they've quietly been doing. This Cruz victory really just represents the latest in their trek towards a hostile takeover of Washington.

RUSH: Oh, yeah, "hostile takeover" of Washington. The Tea Party is engaged in a "hostile takeover". Have you ever heard any group of Democrats who wish to win elections being described as engaged in a hostile takeover? It's like, when the Republicans took over the House in 1994, when the Republicans took control of the House in 1994. The Tea Party engaged in a hostile takeover. There's nothing hostile about it. They're winning elections. I'll tell you what the Tea Party is trying to do. The Tea Party is trying to take over the Republican Party, and the Tea Party is trying to get rid of Harry Reid. The Tea Party is attempting to secure the United States Senate for conservative leadership. That's exactly what they're trying to do. Now, are elections hostile takeovers? You note the language in the story yesterday we had about the Cruz victory, again, in The Politico. It's a one-way street. The caller from Philadelphia's exactly right.

Here's Mark McKinnon. Now, McKinnon ran all the media for Bush in 2000 and 2004. And McKinnon, by reputation, media pro. He is a leader in this No Labels group. Now, who are the No Labels people? They're basically disaffected liberals. They're liberals, moderates -- liberals, but they don't want to be called that. So they're No Labels. They're better than moderates and better than independents because they're not labeled anything. He was on CBS This Morning today, and the co-host was Charlie Rose, and the question, "The victory that Ted Cruz had in Texas, does it further divide the Republican Party, or not?"

MCKINNON: Ted Cruz is not a typical Tea Party candidate. I mean, he is a very thoughtful guy. He's very conservative.

ROSE: Right.

MCKINNON: But he's a very, very smart guy. Not to suggest that other Tea Party candidates aren't. (laughter) But I think that he -- I think he's been cast as a sort of typical Tea Party guy.

ROSE: Right.

MCKINNON: And he's not. I think he's gonna bring a lot to the table for conservatives. He can kind of create a different persona for many of the conservatives on the Tea Party side and kind of change a little bit of the branding of the Tea Party.

RUSH: Oh, yeah, he meant to say exactly what he said, didn't he? Not a typical Tea Party candidate. I mean, he's very thoughtful, very conservative, very, very smart guy. Now, I don't mean to suggest the other Tea Party... well, you don't have to suggest it; you said it, Mark. You said it. Cruz is not a typical Tea Party candidate. I mean he's a very thoughtful guy. He's very conservative. Very, very smart. Not a typical Tea Party candidate. But, nevertheless, McKinnon likes the guy. Now, who's labeling people now? The No Labels guy is out labeling guys.

Cruz went to Princeton. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law. I'll betcha we could see his transcripts. He was a Supreme Court litigator, and he is a real conservative scholar. He's not like all those other Tea Party people. (interruption) Birth certificate? Cruz's birth certificate? Oh, I'm sure. You mean if you wanted to see it? Oh, yeah. I'm assuming that, yeah, he'd show you the birth certificate. I don't know. What are you trying to stir things up in there for? I don't know, I'm sure he would. Anyway, he's not your typical Tea Party guy, folks, very smart, very, very thoughtful guy, very conservative. Not your typical Tea Party. I don't mean to say the other Tea Party candidates aren't, but they're not, let's be honest.